Category Archives: sketchbook

There’s a constant tussle between the anteater and me – he with his Stoic outlook in life and me with my existential angst. But then again, he has answers for every situation in life – which can be useful if you’re not given to much reflection.

So people like me, seek out the one with the answers – there’s time yet for the ones with questions.

Like most people I wake up to the alarm set on my phone. And like most people, I want to press the snooze button and go back to sleep.

And therein lies the twist – have you ever found the snooze button on the iPhone? Exactly. There is no snooze button! Instead there’s a snooze gesture – which is a task for your sleep-addled brain to remember.

A contrasting experience of honesty can be found in the ironic tone and self-reflexive journals of Sunandini Basu piled up on the centre table of the exhibition. An animation designer for 15 years, she had to sift through 96 journals to make her selection for the show. For Basu, journaling is a process of making life. She shared with us that through these “letters for her future self” she “often remember(s) forgotten wishes and goals or events” that shaped her. It’s delightful to stroll through the worries and victories of her daily life. One can trace the arc of the conversation the young designer has had with herself over the years and feel like a confidential encounter has taken place.

Some of my sketchbooks are on display in Zones of Privacy, curated by Rukminee Guha Thakurta at Chatterjee & Lal. It’s a show about the visual journals of 25 artists, and is on in Mumbai from Aug 11- Sept 3. Please do visit.